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Nox Futura is an in-development, open source roguelike game. Combining elements of Dwarf Fortress, Civilization, Warhammer, Douglas Adams and years of RPG experience, it is slowly becoming the game I’ve always wanted to play. It is open source, and you may browse the source on github. Be sure to check the development blog for updates!

Fast, dynamic world-gen creates a realistic world map with biomes and other procedurally generated civilizations. Currently, on my Intel i5 you can have a playable world in under a minute – with 300 other civilizations on a 128×128 world (16,384 playable regions – but in the current version you can’t visit all of them).

Crash-land your escape pod with 10 randomly generated settlers. Settlers start out relatively useless, but can gain skills as you utilize them. Settlers have schedules to divide their time into work, play and rest. They have unique appearances and clothing, and skills derived from a long list of useless professions including Insurance Adjuster, Ranch Dressing Expert and more.

Extensible/moddable workshop and labor system: Lua configuration files define every buildable workshop, and the “reactions” they can perform. For example, a saw-mill requires a wooden log to build, and converts wooden logs to wooden planks. These can be defined without changing a line of the underlying C++ code. A smart “build” and “workflow” system automatically assigns some labors (such as converting raw materials into usable goods), and provides build queues/menus that only list what you can currently build.

You can spawn in an area with members of other civilizations present. They will have houses, and basic interactions with you (many more to come). World-gen spawned civilizations continue to run in the background.

Build your base from a variety of workshops, customizable in Lua and Rex Paint.

Hunting a deer with an atlatl. The framework supports all kinds of weaponry and wildlife.

Generate a living world with hundreds of civilizations and realistic terrain. Conquer it all!

Premise

By the year 2525, Eden – the human home-world – is crowded, scarred by war, and bordering on uninhabitable. It is decided to build colony ships, and spread humanity’s influence into the stars. After a (rigged) vote, it is determined that different classes of colony ship shall be built. The A Class colonies will be comprised of humanity’s best and brightest: scientists, engineers, the best farmers – the people who actually do something useful. The B Class colonies will transport the people who don’t have anything to contribute to society: the insurance adjusters, telephone sanitizers and atmosphere coordinators of the world. C Class colonies will be comprised of the petty criminals who don’t pose an immediate danger to society (dangerous criminals will be left behind), and the D Class vessels will be stocked with anyone who didn’t fit in the previous categories.

Realizing that the A Class vessels are far too important for the future of humanity to take big risks, it is decided to perform the final beta testing on B Class colony ships. Hair dressers, feng-shui consultants and bloggers are loaded onto their ships, fed mimosa’s, and told great stories of their future in the stars. Then, they are put into deep-sleep, and the colony ships jump to hyperspace – under the guidance of a very advanced, and thoroughly untested, artificial intelligence.

You are Cordex, the artificial intelligence in charge of Beta 1 of the colony program. Take off goes smoothly, and everyone is settled in hyper-sleep while you lead your settlers to their new home. Then, of course, something goes wrong. Sensors register an impact, damage control reports that the damage control sensors are damaged, and navigation goes haywire. In the blink of an eye, Cordex drops the stricken ship from hyperspace, and searches the knowledge-base for further instructions. “TODO: Write emergency protocols” is the only guidance the beta software has to offer, so Cordex improvises. Scanners detect a habitable – but uncharted – planet not too far away, and Cordex limps towards it. Damage control sensors come online for long enough to indicate that the ship is too damaged to land, so Cordex has the ship’s systems load the computer and six randomly selected settlers (the ones nearest to the door) into the primary escape pod – and launches towards the planet. The ship should remain in orbit for years to come, and hopefully the remaining settlers can be rescued.

Leaving a trail of devastation, the escape pod comes to rest on the newly discovered planet. Communications and defense systems are offline, power is scarce – but six settlers are waking up from hyper-sleep, the food replicator and water condensers are online. There is still hope! As the ship’s AI – and honestly, the only competent being here – it is your duty to keep the settlers alive, help them rebuild, and use them as your eyes, ears and limbs to either thrive here or escape the planet.